Shanghai Dongfang Sports Center.
The moment SKT's base was destroyed, white fog spewed out from the front of the stage. The spotlights on the ceiling emitted colorful lights that reflected on the white fog, creating a dreamy scene.
It was as dreamy as SKT's sudden death in the last minute after a good 37-minute game.
"YM swept SKT with a score of 3: 0. For the second year in a row, they will enter the finals of the League of Legends Global Finals!"
The 18000 audience members in the stands cheered and waved their flags, venting their remaining passion. Their voices merged into a torrent that swept through the stadium, as if they were bidding a grand farewell to the stadium!
Next, they would be heading to the National Stadium!
The Chinese word for "victory" appeared on the wide screen behind YM's player bench. The five players took off their headphones and hugged each other!
Lin Yan let out a long sigh. His small goal before the start of the international tournament was finally achieved. His agitated emotions were somewhat relieved.
"Well played!" Liu Qingsong tugged at Lin Yan's team uniform, his face flushed with excitement.
Jack saw his own support praising the mid laner and was instantly displeased. "Wasn't I the one who contributed the most in the end?
Blink and send Faker back to his hometown in Seoul! "
"Get lost." Mongoose was merciless. His words were as sharp as a sword. "Even Faker was suppressed. If you had blink, you would have missed. Hurry up and retire and go play 98K in PlayerUnknown's Battleground."
Li Xianghe's eyes were still lifeless. Like his teammates, he slumped in his chair.
"It's a pity …" Doll's tone did not sound regretful at all. Her joy was overflowing through her words. "SKT's journey in the international tournament this year has come to an end. They're going to bid farewell to this stage, to the S7 season."
The live commentator was still chattering on, mixing with the noise of the audience. Without the obstruction of the soundproof headphones, it easily occupied Li Xianghe's ears.
"I don't understand the joys and sorrows of mankind. I only feel that they're noisy."
He had not read Lu Xun's articles, but Korean culture was broad and profound. That was what he meant.
Faker's eyes were slightly red, but he did not let the tears flow.
He saw the line of YM members striding towards him. He struggled to get up and put on his team jacket.
For no apparent reason, he felt a chill run through his body. Even after shivering, he didn't feel any better.
Bang glanced at the data panel before he got up. The Rolex on his wrist was shining under the spotlight.
His damage was 4,396 higher than Verus', and his economy was 2,800 higher than Verus' …
Most importantly, he was ahead of Jack by 55 last hits!
Bang's mood finally improved when he saw the last hit data. As everyone knew, the most important way to determine whether or not Edisi was strong was to look at the last hit.
He stood up and looked at Jack, who had been shaking his hand all this while, with a look of disdain on his face.
Shiba Inu was a little puzzled. How could this person be so arrogant after losing?
Lin Yan shook hands with them one by one. Li Zaiwan's face was frighteningly pale.
"Are you okay?" he asked in English.
Wolf pursed his lips, waved his hand, and shook his head. Lin Yan didn't take this matter to heart. After passing by Bang, he went to find Li Xianghe.
Under the camera, the two top midlaners hugged out of courtesy and didn't talk too much.
Lin Yan didn't take the initiative to speak. It wasn't his first time defeating Li Xianghe. If he said too much, it would only make others dislike him.
He still had some EQ.
Huni was still chewing gum. He looked at his 16 points and felt that it was an eyesore.
In three matches, his death count had surpassed Cuzz. Fortunately, he had taken a kill, so his record didn't look that bad.
He felt that joining SKT was a mistake.
The salary wasn't as high as in Europe or America, and the daily training wasn't as comfortable as there. In the end, he was reduced to 1 kill and 22 deaths, almost leaving his name in the history of League of Legends.
Not only were his stats bad, but he only managed to get into the top 4!
What was the difference between this result and two years ago when he was in FNC Europe?
At least back then, he was still in a killing mode. He could casually play around and get a heaven-defying 4-0 in a BO5.
'Why did I come to SKT?'
In the lounge, Little Peanut had the same thought as Huni. 'It was my first time entering an international tournament last year. Getting into the top 4 should be considered a success, right?
I rejected the olive branches from domestic and overseas leagues to join SKT. Wasn't it because I wanted to win the championship?
MSI lost. They said that they still had half a year, but now their international journey was over!
The most shameful thing was that in the last match, Kkoma sent Blank to replace him by the water dispenser.
In Little Peanut's heart, he didn't trust him at all.
The team voice chat on the big screen in the lounge had long since disappeared. The television automatically switched to the LCK commentator's seat. No one pressed the mute button, and the commentator's voice echoed in the enclosed room.
"Congratulations again to YM. They will face off against the winner of RNG and SSG in the first half of the bracket on November 4th." Roaring Emperor's tone was filled with regret. "We're destined to see the host LPL team in the Bird's Nest …"
"Now we can only cheer for Samsung and hope that SSG can win tomorrow's semifinals." Madlife let out a long sigh.
He would rather watch SKT than place his hopes on Samsung.
The reason was simple. He had a bad relationship with Samsung.
In the S3 Global Finals, SSO (Samsung Zone) was still called MVPOzone during the summer. The top laner, Red Rice, jungler, mid laner, Emperor of Spring, imp, and support, Big Quail Mata, had personally destroyed Madlife's CJ team's hopes in the global finals.
After that, they had 5 wins and 3 losses and missed out on the top 8 of the international tournament. Even Factory Director could not catch up to them.
At that time, CJ was at its peak in Korea, and their popularity was comparable to China's WE team.
Korea was a big producer of idol groups, and fandom culture had long been prevalent. CJ fans were disgusted when they saw Samsung.
'It's bad enough that you eliminated my home team, but you went overseas and got into the top 16?
If you didn't destroy Samsung, wouldn't you have wasted all your years in the fandom industry? '
CJ fanatics swaggered through the streets, claiming that SSO was a disgrace to the Republic of Korea, and wanted Samsung to get out of Korea.
On the other hand, Samsung's two C's, Emperor of Spring and OMP, spent all their skill points in S3. Although they were afraid of trouble, they still dared to cause trouble. During an interview, they even attacked CJ, and the feud between the two teams was formed.
Although four years had passed and things had changed, Madlife still hoped that Samsung would die. However, at this moment, he had no choice but to place his hopes on them.
"Other than S1, we have never missed a finals in the past five years …" Roaring Emperor, who had watched the Korean division grow bit by bit, choked with emotion. "Good luck, Samsun Galaxy!"
Leehom pulled at the creases on his suit pants, stood up, and opened the door to the lounge to welcome his team members.
No one spoke, and the lounge was dead silent.
It was like the team voice chat 10 minutes ago when Crystal was about to be eliminated.
Kkoma glanced at the expressions of his team members. All seven of them were around 20 years old, and they could not hide their thoughts. Whatever emotions they had, they showed on their faces.
Xiao Hei buried his head in self-blame, thinking about what he had done wrong in the previous round. Lee Xianghe, on the other hand, was hugging his peripherals with red eyes, not saying a word. His hair was as messy as a bird's nest.
He was the team member with the strongest desire to win. The rest of them had different expressions, each with their own thoughts.
It was not easy to lead a team without unity.
Kkoma knew that SKT was done for after failing to win the global finals for two consecutive years.
…
Lin Yan stood in the middle of the stage with the microphone in his hand, enjoying the enthusiastic cheers of the audience.
The audience at Guangzhou Stadium was not as big as the one at the Oriental Sports Center. When they saw that Lin Yan was being interviewed, many of them rushed to the front row, holding all kinds of support items, wanting to let Lin Yan see them clearly.
The cheers became even more intense, and Lin Yan felt that his eardrums could not take it anymore.
Ren Dong, who was about the same height as him, was smiling. Lin Yan felt that this person was mocking him. After all, the host was wearing an in-ear monitor, and the noise made by the audience could not affect him much.
The fans were too enthusiastic, and Lin Yan could not take it.
Ren Dong waited for the cheers and screams to die down before asking his question.
"Welcome to YM's mid laner, Ran, for our post-match interview. Today, we swept SKT." He emphasized the word 'sweep'. "How do you feel?"
Lin Yan had just raised his microphone when he heard another round of cheers from the audience. He looked around and saw that someone was holding up banners with Liu Qingsong, Lin Weixiang, and Jack, the two Edisi couples. It was like a love triangle.
He regretted not bringing his phone on stage. Otherwise, he would have taken a picture and sent it to the group chat, providing Phyllostachys Pubescens with dark history material for the bottom lane.
The cheers died down, and he thought for a while before saying, "I'm still a little excited. After all, if we win this semifinal match, we'll be in the finals, and we'll have accomplished another goal."
"As for SKT, their performance today was a little disappointing …" Lin Yan said tactfully. "They're not as good as last year, and our team's coordination is much better than S6's, so it looks like there's a big disparity in the score."
[Crazy, crazy, crazy!]
[They're definitely qualified. Small matches, 12 wins, 0 losses!]
[Last year's international tournament: 3: 2, this year's mid-season tournament: 3: 1, and this year's international tournament: 3: 0. Is this some sort of arithmetic progression?]
[These five people are too damn strong. Don't they care about their fists?]
Ren Dong wisely did not linger on the topic of SKT. "Contestant Ran, do you have any thoughts about tomorrow's opponent in the finals?"
Lin Yan did not need to use his brain to know what Ren Dong and the audience wanted to hear.
"I think the three-star team is very strong …" Many in the audience expressed their doubts. Lin Yan paused for a moment before adding, "But I believe that RNG will win."
"In order to show the strong side of the LPL, an internal battle in the finals of the international tournament is inevitable. It's just like the battle between SKT and S5KOTiger. This is very necessary."
Lin Yan's words made the audience's blood boil.
Even though LCK's reign had begun from S3, Ouze's two appearances in the finals had been a disgrace. Even though the runner-up did not receive a trophy, they at least received a considerable amount of prize money.
It was not until S5 that the two Korean teams met in the finals, causing the other four divisions to feel fear and despair.
If YM and RNG were to start an internal battle in the Bird's Nest … that would be great!
Lin Yan bowed and stepped off the stage. He returned the microphone to the staff member and left the audience to their dreams.
Just as he walked to the door of the lounge, he saw Su Cheng leaning against the wall with a face full of joy. He did not know who she was talking to.
Even through the door, he could hear White Crescent, Guo Hao, and the others' cries and howls. Jack was singing Chen Shi 'an's "Queen of Heaven". His voice was full of emotion, without a trace of technique.
Evidently, the person on the other end of Su Cheng's phone had also heard the song in the lounge. The girl laughed embarrassedly.
"The soundproofing is not good, this room is not good …"
She turned her head and saw Lin Yan.
"Lin Yan is here. Uncle, you can talk to him for a while." Su Cheng moved the phone away from her ear. Her expression was visibly relaxed.
Su Cheng passed the phone to him and mouthed the words "Put it down" before entering the room.
"What's up?" Lin Yan knew that it was his father calling, so he did not hold back.
Lin Mingdong's voice was as gentle as ever. "Nothing, I just wanted to congratulate you."
"Oh, oh …" Lin Yan fell silent again. He did not seem to have anything in common with Lin Mingdong.
If it had been before, Lin Mingdong would have fallen silent as well, and the two would have started to play awkward. But now that he was familiar with parent-child content, he knew how to start a conversation.
"I have a meeting at the Sakata headquarters on the 3rd. I'll fly to Beijing at night. Your final is on the afternoon of the 4th, right?"
Lin Yan felt a warmth in his heart.
In his opinion, it was already a success for someone like Lin Mingdong, who enjoyed a lot of blessings every day, to remember the Bird's Nest agreement from two months ago.
"Yes, it starts at two in the afternoon. If you want to watch, it's best to come early." Lin Yan went along with the topic.
"That …" Lin Mingdong's voice had a rare hesitation. His embarrassment could be felt through the phone.
"What's wrong?" Lin Yan heard that "Queen of Heaven" in the lounge had finally finished singing. He let out a sigh of relief.
"I didn't get any tickets. Do you have any?"
Lin Mingdong was a workaholic who had never been to a concert, so he knew nothing about Dalai Network. "The tickets sold out too fast. I checked the time and opened the app, but they were all sold out in two seconds."
Lin Yan was stunned for a moment. He recalled the conversation he had with the fans outside the stadium. "It's normal that you can't get these tickets. It's rare that you can get them."
"Do you want to watch from the backstage or the auditorium?"
Lin Yan remembered that Guo Hao had said that the club members and the coaching staff would each bring two tickets for the World Championship. He had not used them before, but he had given them to Jack during the quarterfinals and group matches. Not only were there parents in the Shiba Inu house, but his cousin also came often. Sometimes there were not enough tickets.
"The auditorium. Su Cheng's parents are coming too." Lin Mingdong said suddenly.
"… Mommy, give me your ID information. I want a real-name one." Lin Yan hung up the phone after exchanging some pleasantries with his father.
As soon as he entered the lounge, Guo Hao caught him.
"The Bird's Nest, the Bird's Nest!"
He was overjoyed. With Lin Yan and Jack in his arms, the scene could be described as a world-famous painting — Manager Guo and his twenty million.
YM's lounge had become a sea of joy.
"I've never been to the Bird's Nest. I couldn't even get a ticket during the Olympics …"
Listening to Guo Hao's history, Lin Yan pulled his neck out and returned the phone to his girlfriend.
"Are you two closer now?" Su Cheng asked as she huddled beside Lin Yan. The lounge was too noisy.
"Much better than before." Lin Yan hugged her and avoided the topic. "How was my game today?"
…
After receiving a series of compliments from his girlfriend, Lin Yan picked up his backpack and went to the post-match media interview with his teammates.
A few Korean reporters were still asking questions about SKT's performance that night. They wanted to hear the most objective comments from the team that had defeated their division team.
Of course, the content that they thought was not 'objective' was placed in the corners of the article. After all, not many viewers would watch the entire interview.
SKT was the most popular team since the establishment of LCK. The strength of their fans was quite strong. Even if all the fans of the other teams in Korea combined, they would not be able to destroy SKT's barbecue stand.
SKT's fans were already in a bad mood after losing the match. If they saw Jack's pretentious behavior during the interview, they would probably flood the esports media.
As for the local media such as Play Plus Esports, Team Ace, and PentaQ, they were more concerned about YM's prediction of the semi-final between Samsung and RNG the next day.
Under such circumstances, there was no need for YM to predict the winner. Even the trainee Jin Gong, who had left Samsung, said that RNG would win, showing his high EQ.
Lin Yan did not want to participate in this kind of thing. It was hard to avoid conflicting opinions. If he guessed wrong, what would he do if some brainless people came to his Weibo to criticize him?
However, when he saw everyone looking at him with hopeful eyes, Lin Ran found it hard to refuse.
"I think the probability of winning all five matches is higher."
He did not say who would win or lose, but the media and viewers still remembered that half an hour ago, Lin Yan had said in an interview with Ren Dong that RNG would win the final match.
Although the esports media were not as fast as the Hong Kong reporters, they were not slow at publishing their articles.
That night, "LPL's first MVP predicts that RNG will meet YM in the Bird's Nest!"
The news was all over the place.
Lin Yan did not have the time to look at the editors. He and his teammates went to the hotel's buffet restaurant to fill their stomachs. After washing up, they lay on the bed to catch up on sleep.
Although he had defeated SKT, his opponents had put him under a lot of pressure. A B5 match had taken a toll on his stamina and brain power.
When he woke up the next morning, Lin Yan, led by Guo Hao, packed his luggage and prepared to go to Beijing, where the finals would be held.
SKT did not want to stay in this sad place for too long. They flew straight to Seoul at noon. When they checked out, they bumped into YM in the hotel lobby.
Both sides looked at each other without saying a word.
One side had to go back to Korea to clean up their old and moldy mess and prepare to renew their contracts in advance. The other side had to continue north to pursue their shining dreams.
The two teams parted ways at the airport. After two and a half hours of flight, YM's team successfully arrived in Beijing.
The hotel they stayed in was right next to the Olympic Village. Less than three kilometers away was the Bird's Nest. Lin Yan could see the full view of the National Stadium from above as he packed his luggage.
It was four in the afternoon, and the second semi-final match at the Shanghai Dongfang Sports Center had officially begun.
When Jeonghwa RNG appeared, the cheers they received were even louder than YM's from yesterday!
It was not that RNG's popularity surpassed YM's, but the difference in popularity was too exaggerated.
The stadium had a fixed seating capacity of 18000. At this stage of the competition, it was needless to say that every stadium was full.
In terms of popularity, SKT was much more popular than Samsung. Their fans even occupied 20% of the seats in the LPL. Their popularity was exaggerated.
Samsung, on the other hand, was in an awkward position.
Their ancestors had been glorious, at least they had been world champions. However, after changing their name and losing their players, their original fans had been depleted. Only a few people were left in the forums shouting, "The Stars Will Never Disperse Forever!"
These people did not have a sense of belonging to the new Samsung team that Coach Edgar had single-handedly built. After all, other than the coach, everyone else had changed. In addition, the team's results in the past two years had been average, and their main style was still conservative. Naturally, the audience did not like them.
Fans of Samsung like Guan Zeyuan were in the minority.
The person with the most fans in the team was actually the married middle-aged man, An Bishin, who was nicknamed the Hero of Resistance. One could imagine the popularity of Samsung.
At this time, the Dongfang Sports Center was filled with RNG's black and gold flags. Fanatical fans took the lead in chanting the name of the team they supported.
The LPL audience had high hopes for this match. YM had succeeded. Now, as long as RNG worked harder, they would be able to see the Bird's Nest fight!
Lin Yan did not pay attention to these things. He looked for Doom's information on the minions and laid on his bed to read it. He only turned his head when the BP started.
RNG had obtained a decent lineup with priority selection. Ouze's proficiency with Verus was not low, and Saucepan was also very good at Piggy Girls.
The only hidden danger was probably Crown Galio, and Xiao Hu used Ryze to deal with it.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" The room door was pushed open. Su Cheng rushed in with a big bag of snacks.
"Why didn't you tell me there were so many things?" Lin Yan hurried to help.
"There's not a lot. I don't need your help." Su Cheng boasted that she was not someone who could not open a bottle cap.
Xiao Tian took out a pack of QQ candy and ate it.
Lin Yan took out a box of yogurt and handed it to Su Cheng. He sat at the back and ate chips. Looking at his girlfriend on his left and Phyllostachys Pubescens on his right, he felt that life was very comfortable. It was as if he was enjoying his family's happiness.
Summoner's Rift had arrived.
RNG's first match was smooth sailing.
Ruler was beaten 40 times by Ouze in 15 minutes. Saucepan used the bottom lane advantage to invade the bottom half of Samsung's map and kept tailing Master An.
He also successfully controlled the Rift Vanguard and helped Xiao Hu smash Crown's bottom tower.
In 20 minutes, the economic gap between the two sides was as high as 5k. Xiao Hu's Ryze was developing well, while Crown's Galio could not stop Ryze's flanks.
In 28 minutes, RNG used Xiao Hu's bottom lane advantage to control the opponent's formation and controlled the bottom Dragon!
The fans in the audience burst into deafening cheers, even suppressing the roar of Baron Nash before his death!
In 30 minutes, when the economic gap between Samsung and RNG was close to 10k, they used Crown's flash to taunt the three players and win the team battle.
"Galio's strength is ridiculous." Lin Yan swallowed his chips and said, "Isn't W's flash weakened?"
"It's definitely weakened." Su Cheng sucked on her yogurt. "I don't think it'll survive S8's spring."
After Samsung won the team battle, they began to use their rich operating experience to arrange their troops.
RNG was in deep trouble and could not get out.
They could not start the team battle in front of the experienced Samsung's vision.
Time ticked by. Chi Emperor's Xia Xia had taken over the match. She had won the team battle twice.
Both sides broke through two lanes of high ground. In the later stages of the game, they were still farming from three lanes. They were very cautious and did not want to reveal any flaws. At this time, if they lost a member, they could be wiped out.
The game went on for 49 minutes and 36 seconds, and the turning point finally arrived.
Saucepan's Piggy Girl took advantage of Crown's mistake and used [Arctic Hell] to start the team battle!
"RNG wants to kill Crown bro first!"
Verus's Chains of Corruption followed up and Ouze started to slash wildly with his high movement speed!
Verus's ability to slice through tanks and with Ryze's control, they sent Crown's tank, Galio, back to the fountain in a short time!
In this version of the game that focused on head-on team battles, the lack of a frontline was undoubtedly a fatal blow.
"RNG chased them all the way. None of Samsung can escape!"
The commentator was very excited, and the fans in the audience were even more so!
2 for 4!
Even though RNG did not wipe out Samsung, at the critical point of 50 minutes, they could completely flatten the opponent's base!
"1 to 0!
Congratulations to RNG for winning the first round! "
However, the three players in the hotel room frowned.